Phishing scammers have begun using Apple's iTunes as bait for their schemes. Security firm Proofpoint, a company specializing in e-mail security and data loss prevention, said that they have begun seeing such e-mails claiming to be sent from iTunes. IDG News Service reported that users are told there is a problem with their iTunes account, and directed to a fake page that poses as an iTunes billing page.

Phishing scams are attempts to get victims to voluntarily enter their credit card or account information on fake Web pages set up by would-be thieves. If you have e-mail, you have likely seen dozens, hundreds, or thousands of these e-mails that are posed to resemble Ebay, various and sundry banks, or even Yahoo! or Google accounts. The thieves then take that information and use it for identity theft, credit card fraud, and even data mining.

Andrew Lockhart of Proofpoint said that this is the first time they have seen Apple as the target of such scams. "It's probably indicative that the bad guys see Apple's online presence as large enough to be a target. It's part and parcel of the success that Apple has enjoyed lately," he told IDG News Service.

Such may be life in the fast lane, as Apple continues to sell more Macs, iPhones, and iPods, along with more songs through iTunes than you can shake a digital stick at. For all those who may be new to the Internet and its wily ways, iPodObserver.com would like to remind or inform you that e-mails posing as account error notifications should be treated as fraudulent (until proven otherwise), and to be careful where you enter private and personal information.